VILLANOVA, Pa. -
For the eighth time in the last 12 years Villanova had multiple players chosen in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, as junior right-handed pitcher Pat Young (The Woodlands, Texas) and senior shortstop Tyler Sciacca (Staten Island, N.Y.) were each selected on Saturday afternoon. They are the 64th and 65th draft picks from the Wildcats since the inception of the draft in 1965, with 22 of those selections coming in the past 12 years.

This is the 11th time since 2002 that Villanova has had at least one pitcher drafted, while Sciacca becomes the Wildcats first position player to be drafted since 2010. Young was picked in the 13th round (402nd overall pick) by the San Francisco Giants and Sciacca was chosen in the 27th round (798th overall) by the Chicago Cubs.

Young has appeared in 42 games with 34 starts for Villanova, logging 208 2/3 innings pitched with 166 strikeouts. He is a 10-game winner with a 4.74 ERA and has allowed just five home runs to 640 batters faced. Young led the Wildcats this season with 14 games started and 76 strikeouts while ranking second on the squad with 82 1/3 innings pitched and two victories. He allowed three earned runs or less in nine of his 14 starts and faced a total of 356 batters without allowing a single home run. For his career Young has allowed no more than three earned runs in 22 of his 34 starts.

In his collegiate career Sciacca batted .312 with a .401 on-base percentage and a .436 slugging percentage. He had 196 career hits, including 46 doubles, 10 triples and four home runs to go along with 108 RBI, 103 runs scored and 37 stolen bases. Sciacca is tied for fourth place in the Wildcats career record book for doubles and ranks ninth in stolen bases. His career totals also include 72 walks and 29 times getting hit by a pitch.

Over the years both the Giants and the Cubs have taken notice of the professional level talent Villanova has produced. Young is the fourth pitcher from the Wildcats drafted by the Giants and Sciacca is the Cubs seventh Villanova draft pick.

The history of the Wildcats baseball program dates back to 1866 and Villanova is the third oldest collegiate program in the country. There have been 55 major league players to come out of the Wildcats program, including current Villanova assistant coach Kevin Mulvey as well as 2000 Olympic gold medalist Mike Neill. Mulvey pitched in parts of two seasons for the Minnesota Twins and the Arizona Diamondbacks, while Neill played one season for the Oakland Athletics.

There are three former Wildcats currently active in the minor leagues, including outfielder Matt Szczur (Chicago Cubs) and pitchers Kyle Helisek (St. Louis Cardinals) and Kyle McMyne (Cincinnati Reds).